Kyorai Mukai, part 2

WHR August 2011

SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE KEY-NOTE PUBLIC LECTURE

By SUSUMU TAKIGUCHI

CHAIRMAN, THE WORLD HAIKU CLUB

Kyorai Mukai (1651－1704):

PART TWO

How, then, in his eyes
did the hometownNagasakichange after thirty-one years’ absence? He must have
had something like a dual vision in the sense that on the one handNagasakiitself
had inevitably changed during that time and there had been changes within
Kyorai as a human being on the other. Kyorai was born in Keian 4 (1651) which
was half a century after the famous Battle of Sekigahara, ten odd years after
the completion of the isolationist policy called “Sakoku”, exactly ten years
after the Dutch factory at Hirado was destroyed by the order of the Tokugawa
Shogunate and moved to Dejima of Nagasaki, and the third Shogun Iemitsu
Tokugawa died of illness in this year and his son Ietsuna became the fourth
Shogun. Just eight years after that year, i.e. when he was eight, he and his
family leftNagasakiforKyoto,
led by his father.

Thirty years on, Kyorai
was living in theJapanwhich was enjoying an unprecedented prosperity and
peace under the fifth Shogun Tsunayoshi and was in the midst of the Genroku
Period whenEdoculture was at its
peak.

It was five or six before
Matsuo Basho died atOsakawhile on a journey to the West. His life had reached
its last ten years during which he was most productive in composing and
teaching haikai and also being engaged in writing about it. There emerged many
important works by him, not least “Oku no Hosomichi” (The narrow road to the
north). It was also the decade when Shofu (theBashoSchool) was explored and established. Especially
important was his effort to construct a new haikai prosody called “Karumi”, or
lightness, which would have been the culmination of his contribution to haikai
had he lived a little bit longer. It is well known that the one who made
greater contribution to the dissemination and handing to future generations of
that “Shofu” was no other person than Kyorai. In addition to his efforts
regarding “Sarumino” which we saw above, Kyorai wrote in his late years
“Kyorai-sho” (Writing of Kyorai), which is one of the most important literature
for the study of Basho as it sums up very clearly and succinctly the principle
points of the Shofu. He also wrote “Tabine-ron”, which we shall see in some
detail, while he made the second visit to his hometownNagasaki. This book is also an important source for
the study of Shofu. (There has been controversy about whether or not Kyorai
actually wrote these two important books simply because neither of them was
published while he was alive. There are still some academics who maintain that
this question is still to be resolved. However, this point will not detain us
here.)

It is well known that
Kyorai thus occupied a high and influential position among many of Basho’s
disciples as an important theorist and that he was especially highly regarded
in Kamigata area (Kyoto, Osaka and their environ). Kyorai is said to have been
“... head and shoulders above among [haikai] teachers inKyoto...” Clearly, not only Kyorai
is now an important figure for us to study Basho but was then important for
Basho himself. Basho called Sugiyama Sanpu the Haikai Judge of the 33 Eastern
Domains and Kyorai the Haikai Judge of the 33 Western Domains. It is said that
Basho made this remark as a joke at a haikai meeting but it still indicates
eloquently how high Kyorai was in his esteem and also his affection for and
trust in Kyorai.

Thus Kyorai enjoyed the
respect that his fellow disciples of Basho paid for him in his lifetime. His
reputation became increasingly higher after his death. He was loved by so many
not only because of his achievement but also because of his sincere and gentle
personality. The list of what has been called “Shomon Juttetsu” (The ten great
disciples of Basho) differs slightly depending on who compiled it. However,
Kyorai’s name appears in anyone’s list and at high end at that.

One such list is as
follows. Their age in the year Genroku 4 (1691) is shown in bracket. Basho was
48 years old.